Search form

The Globalisation of Healthcare

10th May 2016

The world is on the brink of a new age of 21st-century medicine. Technology is transforming healthcare across the globe. And the UK is leading the way.

That’s why it was a great honour to be invited back this week to deliver a keynote speech at the Health Datapalooza conference in Washington alongside Vice-President Biden, as well as briefing the White House health team and Congressional leaders on UK reforms to Genomics and a Digital NHS.

The UK Life Science sector continues to go from strength to strength. New data published this week shows that, since we launched the Strategy for UK Life Sciences in 2011, we have attracted more than £6 billion in new investment and created up to 17,000 new jobs.

With our landmark 100,000 genomes project, creating the world’s first at scale 'Reference Library' of genomic medicine, a further £1 billion a year investment in the National Institute for Health Research to fund our NHS clinical infrastructure, and the upcoming launch of the Accelerated Access Review, we are putting the UK at the forefront of the development, testing, adoption and reimbursement of novel healthcare technologies

The facts and figures, however, point to something even more profound: a change in healthcare from a 20th-century model in which healthcare was something done to patients to a 21st-century model in which we empower active healthcare citizens to take more control of their health and life choices and chances.

JFK talked about the ‘New Frontier’. Make no mistake: this agenda is our own ‘New Frontier’. And I am determined to make sure that the UK continues to be a pioneer of global health innovation.

The latest data from the Office of Life Sciences on the size, scale and geographical breadth of the UK life science sector: Click here

Letter from c100 leaders from across the UK's £60bn / 200,000 job Life Science sector warning of the risks of Brexit and making very clear that they believe it is vital that the UK remain inside the EU single market: Click here

Big Tent Ideas Festival

Politics is undergoing a tectonic shift. That’s why this year I launched the first-ever Big Tent Ideas Festival, aiming to tackle the most difficult policy challenges we face. Bringing together over a hundred thinkers across the political spectrum, we discussed new ideas on everything from Brexit to intergenerational fairness, centred around three main themes: Politics, Society and Economy.

The Big Tent Ideas Festival is part of the new Capital Ideas Foundation, and will be setting off round the country over the next twelve months as the forum for the best new ideas in public policy. Click below and join us.